We heard at Intel’s GDC press event that Alienware would be one of the first PC manufacturers to ship systems with the newest six-core consumer processor, but neither company’s representatives would confess to “when.” Now, we’ve our answer… sort of. Hot Hardware has received a shiny new Alienware Area-51 ALX, complete with twin ATI Radeon HD 5970 GPUs, a self-contained LED system that stays lit even when the rig is unplugged (could be a great or awful thing, actually) and Intel’s Core i7-980X Extreme Edition to boot. We’re told that a full review is on the way, but in the meanwhile, you can hit the source link for a few more looks at this here monster — you know you’ll be ordering one in a few days, anyway. Alienware sneaks Core i7-980X Extreme Edition into Area-51 ALX desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:02:00 EST

You know what’s better than a stock 3.33GHz Core i7-980X Extreme Edition CPU? Not much, but we’re guessing that a 4.3GHz overclocked version of the same chip just might be. If you’re thinking the same, and you’ve got $1,044 to spare in order to find out, upstart gaming rig maker Origin PC has the means to get it to you. The outfit’s Genesis desktop can now be ordered with Intel’s freshest slab of silicon for $895, or you can snag an extra gigahertz for another $149.

You picked up an Okoro media PC last month, didn’t you? If you’re nodding up and down in a worried fashion, you’re probably better off ignoring everything else we’ll say in this post. For the rest of you HTPC hounds, the boutique outfit has something that’s very likely to pique your interest (and kick that upgrade itch into high gear). Announced today, the company is adding Core i3 and Core i5 processors to its 2010 media center PC lineup, and as if the extra horsepower weren’t enough, users will also find native bitstreaming of TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio on every system save for the Q100 . You’ll also get a 64-bit copy of Windows 7, up to 8TB of internal storage space, optional Blu-ray playback, quad CableCARD support and the new holy grail of transfers, USB 3.0 . You can hit up the outfit’s webstore now to configure your dream machine, and if you so desire, you can check out its dedicated trade-up program that’ll last through May 31st

You picked up an Okoro media PC last month, didn’t you? If you’re nodding up and down in a worried fashion, you’re probably better off ignoring everything else we’ll say in this post. For the rest of you HTPC hounds, the boutique outfit has something that’s very likely to pique your interest (and kick that upgrade itch into high gear). Announced today, the company is adding Core i3 and Core i5 processors to its 2010 media center PC lineup, and as if the extra horsepower weren’t enough, users will also find native bitstreaming of TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio on every system save for the Q100 . You’ll also get a 64-bit copy of Windows 7, up to 8TB of internal storage space, optional Blu-ray playback, quad CableCARD support and the new holy grail of transfers, USB 3.0 . You can hit up the outfit’s webstore now to configure your dream machine, and if you so desire, you can check out its dedicated trade-up program that’ll last through May 31st.

Six cores. That’s how many are in Intel’s ridiculous new Core i7-980x. MaximumPC takes us deep inside the world’s fastest CPU, with full, mind-searing benchmarks. More

If you’re in the market for a netbook—the gimpy kittens of the laptop jungle—know this first: on the inside, they’re all basically the same. Making the little differences all the more important! And yes, they do add up. More

ZDNet is receiving tips claiming Apple will upgrade its Mac Pro line with an Intel Core i7 -980x chipset, which certainly isn’t the first time we’ve heard Core i7-shaped gossip . Supposedly it’ll all be unraveled next Tuesday, the 16th of March. [ ZDNet via BGR ] More

In today’s Remainders: tomorrow’s news! Cisco’s ushering in the next generation of internet with the CRS-3; Kempler & Strauss’s futuristic PhoneWatch gets reviewed; geolocated Tweets; a WebKit-borrowing Firefox; an HTML 5 drawing app; Samsung’s point and shoot prices, and more! Hang Ups Back in October we previewed the Kempler & Strauss PhoneWatch —the smallest of its kind and the model that promised to bring the James Bond dream to every geek’s wrist. Or so we hoped. PC Mag just published their review of the watch and found it “basically unusable,” complaining about the tiny screen and how texting (as you might assume) was pretty much impossible. As they point out, i’s a one way street, this watch/phone business: your phone will always be able to tell the time, but your timepiece will not always be able to make phone calls. [ PC Mag ] Tubular Last night Cisco grabbed our attention with its promise that it was soon to make an announce that would “forever change the internet.” This morning they unveiled their internet changer: the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it

There have been allegations that someone’s been supplying online retailer Newegg with fake Intel Core i7 processors and then proceeding to threaten anyone who reports on the issue. Here’s what Newegg has to say: Newegg is currently conducting a thorough investigation surrounding recent shipments of questionable Intel Core i7-920 CPUs purchased from Newegg.com. Initial information we received from our supplier, IPEX, stated that they had mistakenly shipped us “demo units.” We have since come to discover the CPUs were counterfeit and are terminating our relationship with this supplier. Contrary to any speculation, D&H Distributing is not the vendor that supplied us with the Intel Core i7-920 CPUs in question.

MSI has updated their netbook line once again. While the U130 and U135 already packed Intel’s latest Pine Trail processor, the U160 is throwing down the battery gauntlet. Fifteen hours on one charge? That’s nuts. Of course, it’s not really fifteen hours, since actual battery life is never anywhere close to listed. And the claim only applies to when the netbook is in “Eco” mode, which undoubtedly requires a significant performance trade-off.